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by Stephen Parezo

Leo O'Reilly

December 1, 2004—Reaching a crossroads in his life, Leo O'Reilly decided to venture out of corporate accounting circles and head into private practice. The former CFO of a Manhattan-based insurance brokerage firm thought it was time to head for a less complicated, more satisfying lifestyle in Burlington, VT, where the Fiducial franchisee now helps small business owners with their consulting needs in this haven for entrepreneurs.

The accounting field sparked his interest in high school and spurred him on to try his hand at college level courses. O'Reilly was also influenced by his grandfather who had been a Manhattan accountant in the advertising industry and was "always a financially savvy kind of a guy" who read the Wall Street Journal daily and made some shrewd investments.

"That kind of intrigued me," said O'Reilly who officially opened his doors last January. He was also fascinated by "people who were successful in business."

After earning his accounting degree from Florida Atlantic University, he worked for a Big Eight accounting firm before moving into the CFO position back in New York where he dealt with more of the practical issues of being in business such as payroll budget.

"It was a fast-paced environment and my role was to keep all the pieces together," he said. The 200-employee company was eventually sold after 15 years to another insurance company that had a staff of 4,000. "I had finished what I came to do," he said. "That's when I decided to move on and look at other options."

Since he's a small business owner, too, O'Reilly is better equipped to handle needs of fellow entrepreneurs because he walks in those shoes each day. Among the key issues he assists clients with are cash flow, budgeting, meeting payroll and meeting tax deadlines.

"That's obviously the role of the job to help those people to continue to be successful," he said. Assisted by his wife, Jinny, who also has an accounting degree, O'Reilly knows his practice is in a unique position to make a difference for clients.

Having a client for life

"We're empathetic to their situation," he said. "As a result we tend to be very hands on and they appreciate that. A lot of issues they face can be overwhelming but if you show the willingness to help them you're going to have a client for life."

You don't have to look far to see how O'Reilly has helped improve his clients' business. For example, consider Rachel Strules owns Sweet Lady Jane, a Burlington shop specializing in women's clothing and accessories. When she first went into business she had another accountant who literally did nothing but crunch numbers for her. There was no analysis or business counseling sessions held. "They just didn't care," he said.

Strules' paramount concern was that there would be no surprises come tax time for her S corporation that did not receive any tax planning either from the former accountant.

Now thanks to O'Reilly's diligent efforts, Strules receives not only sound accounting and tax counseling but expert advice on establishing a retirement plan for her business.

"That's something they didn't have before," he said. "The majority of the plan in place is to help alleviate her tax burden."

It's been almost 12 months since O'Reilly joined the entrepreneurial ranks. Reflecting on his upcoming anniversary, he says "it's been a successful year. We've gotten ourselves into both the social and business community. It's worked out really well."

Entrepreneurs in Vermont are no different than their counterparts in the rest of the nation. While they know the core strengths of their business, they often don't have a good handle on back-office functions like accounting, taxes and payroll.

"Most people don't take enough time to do planning such as what the business is going to look like next year," he said. "You need to step back from your business every once in a while and deal with whatever's in your desk in your store."

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

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